Due to lack of encouragement (read reviews) I'm putting a minimum limit to reach if you want me to post the next chappie. Cold, yes. Cruel, certainly. But relax, it's only five. Hopefully I 'see' a few new faces.

Kitsune Kit: Arigatou gozaimasu!

Suiyu: Yeah, that was my random muse Shiku (Verse) taking it and putting it on 'repeat' until I wrote it down.

Darkspirals: (blink) What site? If you just put a couple of spaces here and there it should work next time.

Chapter 11

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"Morning everyone!" Kohaku cheers the next day, bouncing around with more candy-jewelry swinging from neck and wrists. "Ready for a great day of weakling-bashing??"

"Somebody smack the wolf," Aislin grumbles while sipping at a mug of black coffee. "Aisu-kami's sake, too perky!"

"Aww, somebody's not a morning person!"

"Get out of my face before I bite you."

"And get the sugar away from her!" This is from Hiei, curled up on 'his' windowsill. "Before she drives us all mad!" Today Kohaku seems to be going for the simple look. Black jeans, black tank-top, black sneakers. Liberally scrawled on with purple-glitter-glue. Her hair is bound up with her purple feather-scrunchy, accented by the hippie-style sunglasses with purple lenses perched on her nose. Under the candy bracelets are leather cuffs lined with black faux fur, gleaming with silver metal-work with a matching collar around her throat. Hooked around her neck is a pair of earphones, attached to the cd player hung on her belt that's covered in star stickers.

No one else is dressed much fancier. Yusuke's in his sneakers, blue jeans and white t-shirt. Kurama has chosen a green silk long-sleeved shirt to go with tan khakis and comfortable slip-on shoes. Hiei--black everything, enough said. Kuwabara is once again in his absurd white pants, bandages wrapped around his waist underneath a long white trench coat with the words 'Health first!' written in kanji on the back. Aislin is also in white, but her outfit is much more suited for the occasion.

White leather wraps her like armor from shoulder to waist, loose, light wool sleeves billowing wing-like around her. More wool hugs her legs as comfortable, non-constrictive pants that tuck into white leather ankle-boots. Her long snowy tresses are bound back into a severe braid, leaving only the wine-colored streaks hanging free.

"Aw, come on, guys! It's a bright new day and this is my chance to give Hiei his life back!" cajoles the energetic wolf demon.

"It's nearly time to leave anyway," Kurama sighs. "Shall we go early? End things so much the faster." Instantly Kohaku cheers and bolts for the door, throwing it open and colliding with the four teens waiting outside.

"Ow!" Laughing, the four steady her and straighten themselves out. "Candy, did you eat sugar already?" Craig questions, snickering.

"Just a couple suckers. And a necklace. Ooh! And a Ring-Pop! Love the Ring-Pop!"

"We'll just get her down to the stadium, guys," Cassie tells the relieved team. "See if we can't get her to burn some of that energy off." Giggling, the three girls bound off down the hallway, leaving the two boys to shuffle inside and look sleepily around.

"Thought you were awake, Craig." The blond boy shrugs at Hiei's comment.

"Meh. Just burned off my coffee."

"And the girls?" Aislin queries archly. Luke gives her a lopsided grin.

"Lotsa sugar. Don't know how they do it, yanno? Long night, couple of candy bars and some soda and 's like they got full night's sleep on a feather-bed." Both boys flop onto the couch next to Aislin and Kurama with identical sighs, propping their feet up on the coffee-table. Within moments they've crowded the smiling youkai off the couch, stretched out and asleep, a couple of contented house-cats putting the morning to good use by dozing it away.

Kurama shakes his head, a tiny grin tugging at his lips at the sight of the two teen boys, the lighter Luke half on top of Craig, the blond boy's arm curled across the red-head's back. "Remind you of anyone, Aislin?"

"Hm?" Aislin's dance with mischief. "No, not really."

"Come on, Aislin."

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about. Hiei, do you?"

"Hn. My skin itches with the very memory."

"Aw, you're no fun, Kikan-kun."

Yusuke settles a hand on Kurama and Aislin's shoulders, steering them towards the door, doing a poor job restraining his laughter. "Come on, let's get down to the stadium before they start without us!"

----

"Arrogant puppy!"

"Snot-nosed, muck-rolling bitch!"

"How dare you??"

An audible smirk. "Oh, I dare! I dare!" The Team walks into the hall connected to the resting-rooms reserved for today's fighters in time to hear a full-scale cat-fight being waged. Well, sort of. Only one is a cat demon. The other is Kohaku, sheltering her two friends behind her. "My friends aren't meat!"

"They're humans, pup, of course they're meat! That's what humans are for!"

"I take offense to that." Yusuke's voice is neutral joviality as he saunters over to Kohaku, Cassie and Ally. "Since I'm human myself, and I ain't no one's meat."

"I can handle this," Kohaku growls. Aislin shrugs.

"Never said you couldn't. Those two okay?"

"We're fine," Cassie tells the koorime in a voice that quakes from a mixture of fear and pain. A single set of claw-marks bleed sluggishly by her shoulder-joint. "She just startled us, is all. We're fine."

"Bull-shit," Yusuke snorts, gently steering them ahead of him towards their resting-room. "We got these two pretty musicians covered, Kohaku. You have fun now. And no biting!"

"Awww!" The cat demoness is staring at Kohaku, who is watching Yusuke leave with her new wolf ears drooping. "But Yuuusuke--!"

"No biting," Hiei confirms as he walks past. "She's not worth it."

"Oh." The ears go back up. "Well, since you put it that way..." The Reikai Tantei close their door on the growing sounds of a tussle, mostly involving a lot of yowling, flying fur and barks of discomfort. A few minutes later a cheerfully-panting wolf noses the door open and slips inside, sitting down to lick at a few scratches on foreleg and shoulder.

Cassie is sitting on one of the benches in between banks of lockers, Aislin straddling the bench beside her, just finishing first aid on the scratches. "Enjoy yourself, Miss Rough-and-Tumble?" the koorime inquires archly, not even looking up from the knot she's tying on the bandage. A pleased woof is the response, the amber-colored wolf standing up long enough to kick the door shut then returning to licking her wounds. Hiei collects a few bandages and the disinfectant from Aislin, stepping lightly over to Kohaku and crouching down to look her in the eyes.

"Change back, baka ookami. We need to make sure those scratches don't get infected." He blinks as she does so, noting something he hadn't before. "Aren't your eyes yellow-green?"

"Hm? Of course they are. Why?"

"A second ago, they were bronze."

Aislin snorts. "Probably a side-effect of using her reiki. A interesting one, but nothing major. You should know that, porcupine head."

"Snowflake."

"Everyone, it's too early to argue," Kurama soothes before another of the famous Aislin vs. Hiei spats can really get started. The two elemental apparitions stick out their tongues at the fox before they either go back to their ministrations or begin them.

"How bad ya get the other girl?" Kuwabara looks somewhat unhappy--cats are his favorite creatures, and he's never liked it when a cat-anything is their opponent. Except for that arrogant tiger demon, Byakko. He was just annoying.

Kohaku shrugs, wincing as an alcohol-dipped cotton ball is rubbed over a particularly nasty scratch on her cheek. "Not too bad. It was just a tussle, is all. She got in a couple good shots, I got in a couple of good shots, and then security came by to break us up and escort Prissy-kitty and her team to their designated location-thingy."

"Recovery room," Kurama says just as Yusuke corrects with, "Locker room."

"Whatever. Ow!"

"Sissy."

"Psychopath!" Hiei rolls those surprisingly expressive carmine eyes as he places a bit of medical tape over the cheek-scratch before moving on to the deeper one welting up on her neck. "Nyow!"

"Hold still." "Ow!" "I said, hold still." "Damn it, fluff-head, that hurts!" "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me fluff-head?" "Then stop being a prick and go easy on that alcohol! Ye-OW!" "You're being immature." "You're being cruel! Lemme do it!" "Give me that back, baka ookami." "No way! Not a chance! I can doctor myself, thank you very much." "You can't even see half of your scratches." "So?? I can feel 'em, can't I??"

Everyone is watching the exchange with varying expressions of amusement. Yusuke and Kuwabara are turning blue from trying to keep from laughing at the sight of Hiei and Kohaku tussling over the bottle of alcohol and the cotton balls. Kurama is biting his lip with his arms wrapped around his ribs, bent nearly double with merriment. Aislin is laughing in silence so hard that tears are running down her face to land softly in her lap. Cassie and Ally are staring at the two apparitions with something akin to shock, as if one of them has sprouted a extra head.

"Ow! Damn it, my tongue will work just fine! A canine of any species has a cleaner mouth than a person's! Get away with that damn stuff!" "Just hold still, idiot. This will be over a lot faster if you let me do this." "Not when you're going to be so insensitive! Ow!"

"This conversation just sounds so wrong," Cassie mutters to Ally, who nods in agreement.

A warning note creeps into Hiei's voice. "Kohaku..." With an irritated huff Kohaku finally submits, having substituted the alcohol with a gentler disinfectant. A few minutes later all of the scratches are neatly hidden underneath light cotton bandages or medical tape, the wolf apparition lifting an eyebrow at the oddly stylish showing she now makes. Somehow, the bandages only accent her varying accessories, showing stark against her black clothes.

"Huh. If the damned things didn't sting so much, I'd almost thank that neko-youkai for making me have these. The fans are going to go bonkers."

"Fans?" Yusuke gasps, slowly returning to a much healthier color. Ally snorts, jerking a thumb in the direction of the stadium above them.

"There's seriously a lot of demons out there wearing neon, glitter, spangly-things, and waving around posters with our names on it. And that's not even counting the banks of seats that the wolf clans have taken over."

"I'm so popular I could just strangle," Kohaku chirps, restraining the impulse to start gnawing on the bandages to lick at the scratches beneath. Hiei notices this and just gives her a warning look. She responds with a rolling of her eyes in a gesture of 'I wasn't gonna'.

A familiar voice blares over the speakers hooked up in every locker-room, Koto being inordinately cheerful for eight o' clock in the morning. "Hello, everyone! And welcome to the opening matches for the Dark Tournament! It's a beautiful day without a cloud in the sky, and an expected high of eighty degrees! But enough about that, let's get the blood and screams of pain flowing! First up, Team Konoha versus Team Nagaika!"

The waiting Teams listen as the match is decided as a two-on-two match, with the remaining member of each to fight if somehow there's a tie. Such as both pairs dying. Koto is as disgustingly awake and cheerful as her opening remarks during her commentary of the fight. "Ooh, that's gotta hurt! Let's see an instant replay! As you can see, Koke sliced Maigo's head almost clean off! What an attack! Now Goki's got Kish in the Double-Decker Jushin! I haven't seen that move since the original fighter, Jushin himself, used it on an opponent to win the 'seventy-five Tournament! Ladies and gentlemen, can you just feel the agony??"

"Of the fight or her perkiness?" Ally grumbles to herself.

"Wait until you meet the ferry-girl," Hiei growls back, wincing at the thought of our favorite blue-haired Goddess of Death. "She's ten times worse." Faint screams and louder cheers blare over the loudspeakers, as well as Koto's overjoyed shouting, signaling the end of the first match.

"Botan?" Kohaku looks up from her minute examination of her new bandages. "She's sweet."

"Kind of like Diane?"

"Exactly," Kohaku nods at Cassie's suggestion, "exactly like Diane."

Yusuke leans against the short bank of lockers. "Who's Diane?"

Ally chuckles. "She's this cheerleader at our school. She's perky but not too preppy, and the sweetest little thing in the world. It's impossible to not like her."

"Would Team Urameshi and Team Sake please report to the arena? Team Urameshi and Sake, please report to the arena. Your fight begins in two minutes." The group rises and heads for the door at the sound of the masculine voice booming over the speakers, Cassie and Ally sticking close to Kohaku to chatter excitedly.

The group waits for only a few moments behind large stone doors before the slabs pulled themselves open, letting the early-morning sunshine pour into the dim hallway to coat everything in pale gold. Yusuke leads the way onto the short-cropped grass, strutting for all he's worth over the green expanse towards the large stone slab. Wild cheers burst out from several portions of the stadium, the earlier comments proving true. A good fifth of the current audience is dressed much as Pocky was last night, waving banners and such proclaiming their adoration of the band and its members. Another fifth is made entirely of wolf youkai, with Botan, Keiko, Shizuru and Yukina safely ensconced in the middle of them. Beaming at her new-found relatives, Kohaku boosts Cassie and Ally up over the high partition dividing arena floor and seating, a couple of younger wolves coming down and escorting them to the girls. Only then does Kohaku return to her Team to look over their opponents.

Team Sake is a coed team, three boys, two girls for the main team, another girl as their back-up. "Hey, it's the prissy neko-youkai," the wolf-girl observes, a wicked smile baring white teeth.

The 'prissy neko-youkai' puffs up her long head-fur and hisses, claws out. "Say that to my face you stupid puppy!"

"In a minute." Yusuke and Sake's captain--Koto called the water-male Mizuryu--stand in front of each other, discussing what form the fights would take. As the others had expected (and the audience had anticipated) the fights would be one-on-one, best three out of five winning. A flip of Koto's coin has Team Sake's members choosing their opponents. Kitty volunteers first.

Willingly, Kohaku hops onto the ring floor, waving happily at her fans and family before tucking her hands in her pockets and grinning with high spirits at the neko-youkai. "I'm Kohaku. What's your name?"

"None of your business."

"Odd name, but okay. Let's have fun, right?"

"Fun for me," the cat hisses, "not for you!"

Koto raises her arm and drops it, jumping out of the way while shouting, "Begin!" The cat-girl goes to cut the wolf's throat out, but Kohaku is no longer there, the feline's claws slicing through a translucent after-image.

"Missed me, missed me," chants the bronze-eyed girl. She exults in the rush of unlocked power, dancing her way around the ring with effortless moves which always seem to put her just beyond the reach of her frustrated opponent. The strikes that somehow manage to touch are easily blocked by a forearm or fist, the metal rings on the leather cuffs chiming against each other and the rounded studs.

With their keen ears, the fox-blooded youkai standing beside Kuwabara can hear the techno pulsing from Kohaku's earphones tucked in place, a lifeline for the electronic device strapped to her hip. The slender female sways to the music, flowing easily from place to place, stance to stance as if this is nothing more than another private training time.

The cat-youkai is getting pissed. "Hold still, damn it!" Her demand falls on deaf ears, as the song changes to a furious pulsing and Kohaku changes her pattern. Now it is she who is on the attack, striking blow after blow on the ever-more fearful tabby female who makes futile attempts to protect herself. Hiei and Aislin watch in avid pride, recognizing this particular pattern as the one that they had created with Kohaku less than a week before. And now here it is, proving true in battle. A really short battle. Another few whacks and the neko collapses, bawling piteously.

With a snort, Kohaku shoves her out of the ring with a foot. "Meh. Prissy-cat doesn't belong in this Tournament. Go home and play with your mousie."

Koto gulps and goes back to smiling, albeit weakly. "Well, ladies and gentlemen, I'd say that's a ring-out, and Mikuko is not showing signs of getting up within the next ten seconds...so...I declare Kohaku the winner! Next match!"

Because I'm lazy, I'm just going to recap everyone's matches. Yusuke: so easy a win. One smack. Kuwabara got banged up, but because Kohaku and Aislin put him through the wringer for the past few months beside the wolf-girl, he actually manages to win. Kurama and Hiei don't even have to bother fighting, thanks to the other three having won their matches. Aislin is watching it all with the same pride as before, pleased at everyone's--so far--easy success. It will be the warm up they need for the pressing matches ahead.

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"Awoo!!" "Hot stuff!"

"Kiss my ass, boys." Yusuke eyes Kohaku up and down appraisingly.

"Oh, can I?" He's still grinning when Keiko, Botan, Aislin and Kohaku slam their fists down on his head.

"Perverted boy," Kohaku growls, tossing her long braid back over her shoulder. "Put on a bathing suit and he can only think of doing one thing." The first day of the Tournament is already over, with only a scratch or two at most still lingering on any member. Kuwabara's healed even faster than usual thanks to the minor-but-excellent healing skills of Yukina, so he's only sporting a couple of band-aids.

As a reward, they've all decided to go swimming! Hence Yusuke's transgression and punishment. Kuwabara was smart for once; he's keeping any further comments to himself. Everyone is already dressed in their bathing suits--even Koenma, who is in his teenage form for the occasion.

"Not every boy loses his brains when a girl walks...Kurama, dear, you're drooling." Hastily the fox puts his tongue back in his mouth and turns bright pink. It had been a while since he'd seen Aislin in that relatively skimpy aqua blue bikini. A thought occurs to Kohaku, who looks over at the white-haired woman.

"Hey, Aislin? I thought your non-biologic thermometer was backwards. Aren't you freezing?"

Aislin smiles and shakes her head, braid sliding across her shoulders. "No. Hiei's letting me borrow some of his aura until we get into the pool." Said fire apparition is perched on the windowsill in bright scarlet swim-trunks with an expression that wonders how the hells he managed to get talked into this. Wisely, Yusuke and Kuwabara have refrained from comment. Hiei is the only one who is not in any way, shape, or form, drooling or the like at the picture of six girls in swimsuits. Kuwabara had to be restrained from an enthusiastic glomp when Yukina emerged from Kohaku's bedroom in a stylish turquoise one-piece with no back or sides.

"Okay," Kohaku cheers, bouncing for the door in a bright tropical-print bikini, long chocolate hair tied back into a tight braid and streak-free, "let's hit the pool! Whee! Oomph!"

"Candy, you gotta remember to look before you leap," Ally chides as Luke helps Craig to his feet. Kohaku releases her death-grip on the door-frame and scratches the back of her head with a sheepish smile. Behind the teens are Mei, Benjamin, and Koryu.

"Oopsie. Sorry, Craig-kun."

"Nah, 's okay, Candy-chan," Craig wheezes--that impact had knocked the breath out of him--batting the air while trying to get air into his lungs.

"We were gonna ask if you all wanted to go swimming with us," Luke explains, gesturing at their own suits, "but it looks like you already had the idea."

"We can still go together!" Botan chirps, clapping her hands together excitedly. Various sounds of agreement are made, the whole group piling out of the hotel suite and heading for the pool.

A few minutes later, the arrangement is thus: Hiei, Shizuru, Mei and Cassie are sunning on the lounge-chairs in the last of the evening light. Botan, Keiko, Yusuke and Koenma are in the hot-tub, laughing and joking while watching the entertainment going on in the pool. Benjamin, Craig, Luke, Kurama and Kuwabara have Koryu, Ally, Kohaku, Aislin, and Yukina (respectively) perched on their shoulders, engaged in a free-for-all battle of 'Chicken' in the shallow end of the pool. The few other swimmers have moved to the deeper end, laughing as Kohaku and Aislin try to lever the other off their 'mount' into the water, with Aislin the eventual victor.

SPLASH!! But the wolf has her revenge: letting herself sink, she yanks Kurama's feet out from under him, sending the red-head and his passenger under the water with an even bigger splash. Grinning, Kohaku surfaces and shouts, "Marco Polo!" And let the game begin...

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No, this chapter didn't really have much to do with the story, but come on! You can't go wrong with Kurama and Hiei in swim-trunks! (has fun drooling)